Disposable syringe with novel rebounding squeeze bulb



1967 1'. E. WEICHSELBAUM 3295,523

'DISPOSABLE SYRINGE WITH NOVEL REBOUNDING SQUEEZE BULB Filed 0013. 17, 1963 INVEN'TOR. THEODOF?E E.WEICHSELBAUM BY M4,

United States Patent O 3,295523 DISPOSABLE SYRINGE WITH NOVEL REBOUNDING SQUEEZE BULB Theodore E. Weichselbaum, Normandy, Mo., assignor, by mesne assignments, t Biological Research, Inc. a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 17, 1963, Ser. N0. 316,885 1 Claim. (Cl. 128232) This invention relates to disposable syringes and more particularly to a one-piece plastic syringe.

Syringes which are equipped With a manually compressible bulb at one end are presently ntilized for many uses, particularly in the medical arts. These syringes have often been constructed of a glass body and nozzle with a rubber bulb at-taehed thereto. Other syringes have utilized plastic arts to reduce the manufacturing costs of the syringe.

The present invention reduces the cost of a syringe having a manually compressible bulb by not only utilizing inexpensive plastics for the body, nozzle, and manually compressible bulb, but also by making it cf a Singleiece plastic structure which is sulficiently inexpensive that it can be used once and then disposed of at a c0st which is less than the labor to wash and sterilize syringes previously utilized in the medical arts.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved syringe.

Another object is to provide a one-piece plastic syringe having a resiliently compressible hollow bulb formed as an integral part thereof.

A further object is to provide a one-piece plastic sypringe having a hollow tubular body tapering into an extended nozzle at one end and tapering into a neck at the other end and having a hollow resiliently compressible bulb integrally formed with the neck.

A principal object is to provide a one-piece plastic syringe having a tubular body, an extended nozzle at one end of the tubular body, a hollow resiliently compressible bulb at the other end of the body and integrally formed structure with said bulb which prevents it frorn maintaining a permanently compressed shape after all compressible force has been rernoved.

Further objects and advantages will becorne apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection With the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view cf the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGURE 1 taken along the line 22.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many diiferent forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail, an ernbodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodixnent illustratecl. The scope of the invention will be point ed out in the appended claim.

With the rising cost of labor in the medical technician field, the cost of a single syringe, including utilization, sterilization and providing sterilized stonage, has steadily increased. The present invention provides a syringe which, by being disposable and economical in original mannfacturing costs, has a cost for each utilization which is less than that of previously known syringe structures.

Referring to the figures, a one-piece plastic disposable syringe is illustrated which may be cornposed cf any one of a number of plastic materials and produced by any one of a number cf Inolding methods Well known to those skilled in the art. Although many materials and molding methods may be utilized to produce the syringe illustrated in the figures, a preferred material for the syringe is acrylic ethylene copolymer, and a preferred method of molding the syringe is by the use cf a blow extrusion process.

The one-piece plastic syringe is composed of a hollow tubular body 10 which tapers into an extended nozzle 11 at one end and tapers into a neck 12 at the 0ther end. Integrally formed with these portions is a hollow resiently compressible bulb generally indicated at 20 which is cornprised of a semi-spherioal portion 21, an externally longitudinally concave portion 22 adjoining the spherical portion, a conical tapering portion 23 adjoining the concave portion 22 and also the neck 12, and a flat disc portion 24 adjoining the semi-spherical portion 21. The Walls of the syringe are translucent and the volumetric content of the syn'nge may be measured by a set of volumetric indices, generally indicated at 25, when the syringe is held in an upright position with the nozzle 11 extending downwardly.

The wall thickness of the syringe decreases from the conical portion 23 through the concave portion 22 and the semispherical portion 21, as illustrated in FIGURE 2. The thickness of the wall of the conical portion 23 and of the disc portion 24 is substantially thicker than the wall thickness throughout the externally concave portion 22 and the sernispherical portion 21. The thinness of the Wall structure in the semispherical portion 21 and the concave portion 22 allows these portions of the bulb to be particularly resilient and easily manually compressed. While these portions of the bulb 20 are being manually compressed, the conical tapering portion 23 and the disc portion 24, having relatively thick walls, Will not be compressed, but Will substantially retain the form illustrated in the figures. Previous resilient compressible bulbs, which were of substantially constant wall thic kness, would often remain in a cornpressed position with half of their semispherical structure being folded inside the other half after they had been laterally squeezed together. When the bulb 20 is laterally cornpressed, one side of it cannot be folded tightly enough inside the other side that it remains in such a Position when the lateral compressive forces are rernoved beeause the conical portion 23 and the dise portion 24 will not be folded in half.

In addition to being vulnerable 10 being permanently deformed by lateral cornpressive forces, revious syringe bulbs were often deforrned by excessive longitudinally compressive forces that folded the top side of the bulb inside a lower portion of the bulb. The bulb 20 resists being cornpressed by a longitudinally compressible force to the point that it will not immediately return to its original shape illustrated in the figures when all longitudinal force is removed. The externally concave portion 22 limits the distance which the semispherical portion and the disc portion 24 can be forced downwardly into it. Thns, it is substantially impossible for either a laterally compressible force or a longitudinally compressible force to cause the bulb 20 to assume a position from which it Will not immediately return to its original shape when all compressive forces are rernoved.

Those experienced in the art Will recognize hat either the conical portion 23 or the disc portion 24 alone tends to cause the bulb 20 to return to its original shape after the application of a compressive force, and would do so even if the other portion were not present. Those skilled in the art Will also recognize that the combination of the externally concave portion 22, without either, or with one of the portions 23 and 24, results in a novel bulb structure which resists permanent deformation. Therefore, all cornbinations of the deformation resisting portions 22, 23 and 24 are within the scope of the present invention. In addition, those skilled in the art Will recognize that the bulb portion 20 could be joined directly to 3 the =hol1ow tubular body 10 without the utilization of a neck 12 and with or withdut the conical portion 23 to produce embodirnents of the inventioh which will 'exhibit many of the desired features of the invention, but which will be somewhat simpler in construction.

sidered to be Within the true sc'ope cf the invention as pointed out in the appended claim.

I claim:

A one-piece p1astic syringe comprising a hollow tabular body tapering into an extended nozzle at one end and tapering into a neck portion at the other end and a hol1ow resiliently compressible bulb including a semispherical ortion, an externally longitudinally concave portion adjoining said semispherical portion, a conical tapring portion adjoining said concave portion and said neck portion, and a flat disc portion adjoining said semispherical portion opposite 10 said concave portion, said conical tapering portion and said flat disc portion having a wall thickness substantially greater than said semispherical portion, and said externally longitudinally concave ortion gradually 1 All such modified embodiments of the present invention are C011- varying in thickness from the thicker conical tapering portion to the thinner semispherical portion.

D. 194,419 1/ 1963 Whitton.

1029689 6/1912 Kelley 128239 1497,264 6/1924 Gurnee et a1 128-239 1,696486 12/1928 Jefireys 128231 2802605 8/1957 Parker 222215 2,808967 10/1957 Miller 128-232 X 2857914 10/1958 Carliner 128-232 1 FOREIGN PATENTS 475918 4/ 1915 France.

1 179,779 12/ 1958 France.

2,199 1859 Great Britain. 866,339 4/ 1961 Great Britain.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

R. L. FRINKS, Assistant Examiner. 

